Mirage Noir an upcoming otome game where you play as a detective, solve cases, and try to catch an elusive serial killer in this mystery visual novel focused on found family. It’s developed by Studio Chawan for PC (Windows, Linux, Mac) and downloadable from itch.io and Steam. There’s an upcoming kickstarter page here.
Game Overview
When Yunie graduated from college, she believed she had her whole life ahead of her. Returning to her hometown with a shiny new dream job, it seemed like nothing could stand in her way.
However, two years later, not much has changed. She hasn't made any new friends, isn't allowed to investigate anything worthwhile, and feels like she's stuck in mud, moving in place.
So when an unexpected opportunity arises, she doesn't hesitate to take it. The case is a weird one, but it introduces her to an eccentric team of people she immediately connects with, and she decides that no matter what, she won't regret getting involved.
Even if it means crossing paths with a serial killer.
Characters
Ohh sweet Yunie I love her so much already!! I can tell that Yunie is definitely supposed to be that relatable MC that you want to root for — which I totally do! She’s upbeat but also takes her job seriously even when her boss doesn’t take her seriously. The fact that she’s kind of clumsy and tends to overthink is something I can totally relate to so I really like those traits about her. Her dynamic with everyone is really fun too and I enjoyed it a lot. She honestly reminds me of Kagome from Inuyasha (maybe it’s the funny side eyes she gives everyone and sarcastic comments she has in her head LOL). I’m definitely interested to see more about her insecurities about her since we a small flash to it.
Definitely my favorite boy so far!! Based on appearance, Alexei is exactly the type of character I thought he was; sarcastic and easygoing but also very efficient in what he does. He kind of reminds me of a less serious Houou from Kenka Bancho Otome (especially that yakuza energy) or maybe even Kouga from Inuyasha…? LOL, he just gives me wolf energy. The fact that he’s a clean freak is a trait I love in characters because it’s such a fun contrast to his personality which seems to be all over the place and messy sometimes. Overall, I think he’s a sweet character overall and I’m interested in how his relationship will develop with Yunie. He also has a lot of banter with Thierry which was fun to watch.
Thierry is definitely not your typical ‘prince charming’ — which I was totally fine with because I love those types that kind of have an edgy ‘mysteriousness’ to them. I also like seeing him and Alexei banter lol. He’s obviously a lot more snarkier than he looks since he has to put on appearances but I live for cynical characters so bring it on!! I definitely am looking forward to seeing more of his ‘soft side’ since he definitely doesn’t warm up to people that easily.
Jem is super cute and I can see ‘innocence’ radiating off him!! I can tell his role is similar to Helvetica from Bustafellows since he can disguise himself as other people (being a cosplayer) — albeit quite the opposite in personality cause he’s not a dick to the heroine at first LOL. Anyway, funnily enough he reminds me of a character they introduced in Bustafellows 2 who had a big social media following and was a bit similar in personality — but I actually like Jem’s personality / look more lol. I definitely get shy vibes from him when it comes to romance so I’m excited to see more of him and the heroine!
Sami was definitely one of most relatable LIs and I think he’s probably my 2nd favorite next to Alexei so far. Anyway, he’s what you’d expect to be being a gamer and whatnot — he’s the hacker of the group!! So immediately personality wise I was getting Takeru vibes from Collar x Malice but way less snarky and more of a recluse lol (which I totally get). I literally laughed when he said he was allergic to the outdoors (so relatable). Him also needing to talk about his obsession is something I know a lot of us have in us — so yeah, I like this guy a lot!! It’ll be fun to see where his route goes!
System / Features
- Four love interests: Four separate routes that can be played in any order
- Two truth routes: Two truth routes that unlock after all four character routes are completed. You will have the ability to choose which character route they follow after, which give you extra scenes with the love interest of your choice
- Minigames, including:
- Multiscreen gameplay
- Point and click
- Deduction segments
- UI: A fun and custom UI that matches the theme
- Artwork: Beautiful sprite artwork and vivid backgrounds
I was very impressed with the system and gameplay as it’s not just a traditional visual novel and actually has some fun features I’ll elaborate on some more. So first, there’s the multiscreen gameplay — this isn’t something you see very often but it immediately reminded me of a feature they have in the otome game DesperaDrops (which is also a crime / suspense game). In that game, there’s a mode called ‘mission mode’ where you watch cameras for each character and you make choices for what you want each character to do — it was very similar to that.
The time choices are a lot like Bustafellows which obviously there’s much inspiration from that game — which is a very good feature to have in a crime suspense when you want to give the player a sense of urgency in making a choice. The point and click feature along with the deduction segments are a lot like Ace Attorney (or even Dangan Ronpa) so I think anyone who’s a fan of those type of games would enjoy this part a lot. I was really impressed by all of this because I could tell a lot of effort was put into this portion of the game; especially having the evidence to collect and look at.
Lastly, I want to discuss the UI and artwork — which is another huge appeal of this game. I can’t even emphasize enough how impressed I am by the UI and how the menus are implemented. As someone studying graphic design, I know how important it is to have a clean, concise design that works well for the project. And honestly, I think the menu looks highly professional — even better than some UI work I’ve seen on official otomate games. It’s really easy to navigate and I love how opening the menu showcases a little notebook — it’s very clever. The artwork speaks for itself and I think the characters are very well designed — Yunie is a very cute heroine!
Overall Thoughts
I was actually keeping tabs on this game around when the twitter account was first made and I was definitely drawn in by the promotional art / premise and now that I’ve played the demo, I can definitely see a lot of promise and potential in this game. I already mentioned earlier instances but this game is inspired a lot by Bustafellows being a mystery / crime game that has that found family aspect (along with the characters taking on certain roles and having a base house). That being said, the characters are definitely a lot more different and have their own unique personalities which I like since I never really got super attached to Bustafellow’s characters as much (aside from Mozu) and was actually more into SideKicks in a lot of ways. I also really like the detective aspect of this game and can definitely see the inspiration taken from Ace Attorney — which works really well for a detective otome game.
The demo itself is full of enough content to give you a good rundown of how the game will work and even in the demo there was replay value in getting all the scenes / single CGs for each character depending on who you choose to work the case with. I like that there was a taste of everything when it came to the story, characters, setting, and even art — so it’s easy to figure out whether or not this game is for you. Personally, I love the mix of detective / suspense / crime genre in most things I consume, but I find some things can do it in a very dry way sometimes. For example, Collar x Malice had scenes where the detective talk was a bit on the dry side and I found myself skipping it sometimes (its not always interesting when it feels like you’re reading a bunch of terms in an encyclopedia); but I feel like this game does it a lot better while making it interactive — which is such a good way to keep the player engaged and I really commend them for that because it’s not easy to do.
If there’s any sort of nitpick I have or even just something I’d like to see, it’s probably slightly more worldbuilding and implementing voice acting. The worldbuilding aspect can obviously happen at any point, but I love having a bit more background on the characters when starting a game (moreso those who are introduced first like the heroine). Also, Having a prince kind of threw me off for a moment and I couldn’t tell if he was a modern prince living in a city or there was some sort of fantasy aspect to the game. Albeit, I’m sure we would learn more about these characters / world in the full game — but I’m definitely interested in learning a bit more about the setting. As for voice acting, I’ve already seen various FAQs about adding VAs and I know the devs are interested in implementing it for their kickstarter stretchgoals! This is really nice news to me because as a voice actress myself, it’s something that I think really adds personality to a game — even visual novels. Seeing these characters come to life with voices would be so nice to see so I really hope it can get funded.
Anyway, I’ve played a ton of otome games so take my word for it when I say that this game has more life breathed into it than most Japanese otome games nowadays (at least, I’m not really into Otomate games as much anymore). I find it hard to find games that don’t feel like the same cookie cutter game remade over and over — so it’s refreshing to get something new in the realm of crime / suspense. Honestly, I think anyone who is a fan of Bustafellows, Ace Attorney, or just detective games in general would definitely like this game — so I definitely recommend the demo and trying it out yourself. That being said, make sure to check out the Kickstarter when it launches October 22nd!
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